Launching a brand in a new city.
The complete checklist from someone
who has done it many times

We have launched brands in 9 cities across India: Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Kolhapur, Ahilyanagar, Nagpur and Goa. Each one has taught us something the previous ones did not. What follows is the checklist I wish we had had before the first one.

The biggest mistake businesses make when launching in a new city is assuming that what worked in their home market will work everywhere. It will not. Mumbai is not Pune. Goa is not Delhi. Nagpur is not Nashik. Each city has its own media behaviour, its own vendor landscape, its own cultural vocabulary, and its own competitive context. A launch that ignores those differences is a launch that will underperform.

Before you launch: the research phase

1. Map the media landscape of the specific city

Which FM stations have the highest reach in this market? Which regional language newspapers are actually read (not just circulated)? Which outdoor locations see the highest footfall for your target audience? Which digital platforms are most used in this city? In Nagpur, certain regional publications carry significantly more weight than in Pune. In Goa, outdoor media in specific tourist corridors outperforms almost every other medium. You cannot assume. You must research.

2. Understand the local competitive landscape

Who are the established players in this category in this city? How are they positioned? What do they look like and sound like? The differentiation strategy for your brand in a new market must be calibrated against the local competition, not just against your national competitors. A positioning that is highly differentiated in Pune may be commoditised in Mumbai.

3. Build your local vendor network before you need it

Printers, hoarding vendors, installation teams, event management companies. Every city has its own ecosystem. Quality, reliability and pricing vary enormously. Discovering this on launch day is too late. Build and vet your vendor relationships in the new city at least four weeks before launch. This alone has saved us from disaster on multiple occasions.

The launch toolkit: what must be ready before day one

• Outdoor creative in all required formats for the specific city's hoarding sizes (these vary by city and by vendor)
• Print ads in regional language formats if the market warrants. A Hindi or Marathi ad will outperform an English one in many markets outside Mumbai
• Digital creative adapted for local context: if you are using location-specific references or visuals, ensure they actually resonate with the local audience
• Radio script recorded and approved. Do not arrive on launch week still writing scripts
• A city-specific landing page or at minimum a city-specific section of your website, so that when people search for you in this city, what they find is relevant to them
• A local contact number or at minimum a clear way for enquiries from this city to be routed and responded to quickly

The launch week: what to watch and manage

Hoarding installation quality

Check every hoarding installation before launch day. Not via photo: physically if possible, or via a local representative whose judgment you trust. A poorly installed hoarding, peeling, crooked, partially obscured, is worse than no hoarding. It signals a brand that does not care about its own presentation.

Media delivery confirmation

Confirm that every media booking has actually run. Radio spots get bumped. Print positions get changed. Digital campaigns go live late or with the wrong creative. Have a system to confirm delivery of every media element within 24 hours of its scheduled appearance.

Local feedback loop

Have someone in the city who can tell you what the market is actually experiencing in the first week. Not a sales report. Qualitative feedback. Are people talking about the launch? Are they walking into the store because they saw the hoarding? Are they mentioning where they heard about you? This feedback shapes the weeks two through eight of the campaign.

The 90-day plan: sustenance after launch

A launch campaign that runs for two weeks and then stops is not a brand launch: it is a brand announcement. The 90 days after launch day are where brand awareness actually builds. The sustenance plan, what media stays active, what digital content continues, what PR activity happens, must be planned and budgeted before launch day, not figured out on day 15 when the initial energy has dissipated.

Plan your launch media to run for a minimum of 8 weeks. Plan your digital content to run for 12 weeks. Plan at least one PR or activation moment in weeks four to six that regenerates conversation about the brand in the market.